It’s not meant to look that easy. It’s a Champions League semi final, and you only have to think back to some of the epics we’ve had at this stage before to know how hard these things are. Yet this looked so, so easy.
It wasn’t though. Villarreal are a tough opponent but we were so good that this game just looked totally one sided. Villarreal didn’t offer any kind of attacking threat but that was only partially down to their defensive set up. The main reason they didn’t threaten was because they couldn’t. They weren’t allowed to.
Our play without the ball in this game was just next level. Better teams than Villarreal would have struggled. Hell, better teams than Villarreal HAVE struggled. Just ask Messi.
The 2-0 scoreline doesn’t tell the story of this game as it was completely one sided. We should have won by more but in fairness it’s not like we missed loads of gilt edged chances. For all of our dominance I thought Villarreal hung in there and defended valiantly. They couldn’t do anything when they got the ball back but by and large they defended as well as anyone could have in the face of that relentless assault on them.
Even though we didn’t score in the first half I wasn’t concerned and I thought we’d been brilliant. We didn’t create loads of chances but that was because they defended really well. We looked right at it all over the park though and if we kept that up we were always going to win.
Klopp went really strong with his starting line up and you can make an argument this is our best eleven. Personally I’m still saying Matip is in our best team but Konate has been so impressive that it’s a toss of coin now. Doesn’t really matter which one plays as they’re both boss.
To me that’s our best midfield three even though Twitter would disagree, and the front three right now is Mo and Sadio plus one, and it’s not easy leaving Diaz out is it? So yeah, really strong starting line up and we were quick out of the traps.
The tempo was great and lesser teams would have wilted. Lesser teams have wilted, just look at how we swept the mancs aside for example.
Salah, Mané and Diaz looked electric. Sadio should have scored when Konate nodded a corner down to him but he seemed to be caught on his heels and the chance was gone. Then he headed wide after being brilliantly picked out by Mo. It looked a bad miss initially but he just got up a bit early and couldn’t arch his neck to direct it back on target. They linked up again soon after but this time Mo’s shot curled just over.
Sadio then had a volley deflected inches wide by Albiol. Great football by us but heroic defending too. The same thing happened with Mo soon after. He hit a goal bound volley but a Villarreal defender came from nowhere to make a block.
Mo had another volley that flew over. That would have been the greatest goal of all time if he’d buried that. Robbo played a fifty yard cross field ball to Trent who met it on the run and volleyed it back to Mo. Ridiculous. These players do stuff every game that just take my breath away.
Diaz had two shots parried by the keeper and Thiago smashed one against the angle of post and bar from 35 yards. What a goal that would have been.
So half time and 0-0 but aside from the ball not going in the net that was a fucking impressive half. One way traffic, a swarming press and loads of quick, incisive footy.
The second half continued in the same manner. Fabinho had a goal disallowed for offside against Van Dijk and Diaz could have done better with a header he put straight at the keeper. We had all the momentum and it seemed inevitable that it would pay off.
Sure enough, it did. The goal was lucky but the move that led to it was superb. Thiago skipped away down the left with a shimmy of the hips, he fed it inside to Diaz who dummied for Mané. He touched it on to Hendo, who laid it off to Mo before collecting a return pass on the overlap. We had four players in the middle waiting for the cross but a defender got a foot to it and sent the ball looping up towards the far post. The keeper got a hand on it but couldn’t keep it out and Hendo wheeled off in celebration.
He said he’s claiming it “because Mo would” but that’s an own goal.Doesn’t matter who scored, we were ahead and Villarreal’s dogged resistance had been broken.
Anfield was bouncing and within two minutes we’d scored again. Brilliant goal. Outstanding play by Mo to slip Sadio in, and he’s just so quick eating up the ground over five yards. Initially it looked like he might not reach it but he’s incredible in those situations. He got there with plenty to spare and poked it past the keeper.
I thought he might have been offside and it was as tight as you can get without it being ruled out. Robbo wasn’t so lucky a couple of minutes later when he converted a Trent cross but was denied by the linesman’s flag. Interesting that the lino flagged for that but not on Sadio’s. As I often say, they’re really fucking good at their jobs.
The ref was more of a mixed bag. I didn’t think he was that bad but there were some strange decisions. Virgil was booked for a nothing challenge but Coquelin (now there’s a blast from the past) escaped a booking for hauling back Trent when he was about to shoot.
He didn’t do anything about the keeper’s time wasting either, which was irritating. It was the old “pretend to play out from the back before kicking it long thing. It happens all the time these days. You only need to see that two or three times to know what they’re doing. If they don’t pass it out in the first few occasions and they hit it long, then that’s what they’re going to do all day so if the centre backs keep performing the charade of coming short before being waved away by the keeper, you need to get your card out and that will stop it sharpish. They never do though do they?
I thought in the period just after we got the two goals that there was a chance for us to end the tie there and then.
We had chances to add to our lead. Virgil stung the keeper’s palms from 30 yards and Diaz had a couple of chances he couldn’t quite convert. The first was deflected inches wide and the second he dragged across goal. I think the keeper might have got a foot on it though.
Diaz was electric all night though. What a player he is. He just brings dynamism and energy. When he loses the ball he fights like mad to go and get it back and he just fucking loves it doesn’t he? His enthusiasm and passion is infectious. Not that the other lads are lacking that or need him to bring it out of them, but he definitely helps. With the crowd as much as anything. He’s just lifted everything since he got here.
Another goal or two would have killed them completely, but we didn’t add to the two we had and eventually Klopp started making changes with the weekend in mind.
First Keita replaced Hendo and Jota came on for Mané. Neither looked happy going off, which makes me laugh. Trent looked pissed when he got the hook a bit later. Diaz is just too happy to be here to get annoyed by anything though.
I did think with Divock coming on we’d get another goal but the problem there is it wasn’t really enough of a desperate situation for Div. He doesn’t waste his goals on irrelevant moments. I’m happy he got on though, this will almost certainly be his last European game at Anfield, which makes me sad.
All in all though a great night. Such a dominant display and although there is still some work to be done we’ve got one foot in the final now.
There has been a fair bit of derogatory stuff about Villarreal in our media. It ranges from mild criticism of how they performed to the completely hysterical over the top nonsense spouted by Jason Cundy on Talksport. I don’t know if it’s all an act with him or if he is just that much of a dickhead, but anyone who can make Jamie O’Hara seem like the rational, intelligent one really is a bit special.
Cundy called them a “disgrace”. He said we could have dragged a fan out of the crowd and stuck them next to Van Dijk and Villarreal still wouldn’t have caused us any problems and he said that UEFA will be looking at that game and will be panicking about the state of their competition.
Where to even start with that? I’ll deal with the fan thing first, which is clearly nonsense. Konate played alongside Van Dijk and he stood out even though Villarreal barely managed any kind of attack. A fan couldn’t have done what Konate did. Had he used Alisson as the example then fair enough! I don’t think Ali touched the ball with his hands all night, which must be some sort of record I would have though.
I doubt UEFA are the slightest bit arsed about how the game went. Sure, it’s not great when a game is as one sided as that but Villarreal beat Juventus and Bayern Munich to get here. They’re a good side. A year ago they knocked out Arsenal and beat Manchester United in the final. Funny how no-one was talking them down then.
They were without their best player in this game and they were playing against the best team in the world, in the most difficult away venue in the world. The last time we played a European semi here we twatted Barcelona 4-0, Messi, Suarez, Busquets, Pique, Alba and all.
Villarreal were just completely outgunned and there’s no shame in that. They had no chance and in this form we would have strangled 99.9% of football teams on the planet in a similar way to what we did to Villarreal. In fact, they did better than because they actually defended really well. They just couldn’t attack because any time they had the ball we just smothered them.
I’m not sure what people were expecting them to do. It’s like putting me in a boxing ring with Tyson Fury and screaming at me to “fucking hit him”. I’d be trying, but I wouldn’t lay a glove on him because he’s too big, too strong, too fast and too good for me. All of that applies with us and Villarreal.
At least half of the players in our team are the best in the world in their positions and the other half aren’t far off it. Villarreal have half a dozen players who couldn’t cut it at Spurs and Arsenal, but Unai Emery has them all punching well above their weight and other than City and Chelsea I wouldn’t back any other Premier League team to beat them. The disrespect being shown to them after they were dominated by the best team on the planet is out of order.
Their fans are boss too, but we knew that already. They’ve always been supportive about Hillsborough and they buzz off the Beatles. Playing teams like that are what European football should be all about. Not coming up against wankstains like Man City.
I expect they’ll give a better account of themselves next week because it isn’t at Anfield and they probably won’t run into a Liverpool side as fired up and focused as we were in this game. They’ll have chances next week, but if they open up and try to play more then we’ll probably run all over them.
I don’t see any way they can survive if they try to be more expansive, but stranger things have happened and we do need to be on our guard in case something mad happens like we get an early red card or something.
Ultimately though, we should come through that game and book our spot in the final, which would be our third in five years. If we win it then that stands comparison with anything we did in our 70s and 80s heyday really. Not that I think this is even any kind of yardstick anymore as this team is just the best we’ve ever had.
More silverware would shut down any argument against it, but the points totals this team are picking up each year while also being dominant in the Champions League speaks for itself.
Star man is Thiago but the whole team were excellent. Special mention to Fabinho who is never going to be as eye catching as Thiago but was just as dominant in his own fashion. They just couldn’t get through him, he was everywhere. Konate looked boss as well, which is impressive considering we hardly had to do any defending.
We might make several changes now for the weekend trip to Newcastle but who knows. Klopp isn’t changing things as much as I thought he would and you can only marvel at the fitness levels of these players. They should be goosed at this stage of the season given all the games they’ve played. They’re not though, if anything they’re getting stronger.
Carra said recently that in 2001 when we did the cup treble we got over the line just on the mental strength of the squad because they were out on their feet. This squad has that same mental strength but also look fresh as daisies too.
We’ll still need luck to win even one more trophy, let alone three, but so far we’ve not really needed it have we? In the Champions League it’s been a fairly smooth passage with very little drama. We’ve had a few anxious moments in the league but it’s not like we’ve needed last minute winners every week. We might do at some point over the next few weeks, but that’s why you have Divock.
Of the games we have left, Saturday looks to be one of the trickiest, not least because of the early kick off time. Winning that and then forcing City to go to Leeds and win could make this a pivotal weekend, but we just have to take care of our own business and hope for the best.
Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (Gomez), Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson (Keita), Thiago; Salah, Mané (Origi), Diaz (Jota):
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